A glance at the Star Herald headlines in 2015 shows Rock County residents enjoyed a relatively stable year in terms of breaking news.
There were highlights of a bumper harvest, new school superintendent and the Palace turning 100, but the story of 2015 unfolded in recurring themes.
Headlines repeatedly shone light on soil conservation, Lewis and Clark water, fiber-to-the-home Internet access, recreational development for trails and water, and the long-awaited completion of Highway 75 improvements.
South Highway 75 improvements
Bright orange cones, diverted driving lanes and detoured traffic makes the South Highway 75 construction story the most commanding in terms of its effects on daily life.
Luverne residents quickly learned to avoid the construction nightmares, but travelers from near and far found themselves navigating the maze of heavy equipment and workers in hardhats.
It was a trying summer for businesses along the Highway 75 corridor who tried to maintain business as usual, despite the hurdles their customers encountered reaching them.
In the end, the three-year-long, $2.7 million project resulted in a dream come true for visionaries of Luverne’s southern gateway.
In addition to brand new infrastructure underground (new water and sewer lines) and green boulevards with uniform sidewalks above ground, the main drag through town had a new surface and safer three-lane traveling pattern.
Along with it, the four corners at the Main Street stoplight intersection are on their way to a matching facelift. The southeast corner is now home to Luverne’s $35,000 flag park, complete with national, state, city and POW flags, a changing seasonal display and trademark Sioux quartzite boulders.
Coming soon to Highway 75: pedestrian crossing lights at the school campus. Safety concerns in this stretch of the highway have been in the news for over a decade, but 2015 was the year local officials took action.
Two beacons will be installed — one at Barck and one at Dodge — for a cost of $200,000 to be shared by city and school. The county will maintain the equipment, which will replace most of the six crossing guards that cost $50,000 annually.
Footings for the equipment were poured this fall and installation will be early in 2016.
Herman Motor expands and relocates
Another exciting development with the Highway 75 improvements was the expansion and relocation of Luverne’s Ford Dealership.
For more than 80 years, the Herman family sold cars in downtown Luverne, but that all changed this summer when Herman Motors moved into its brand new dealership on South Highway 75.
The $2 million project, which nearly doubled the inventory space, received a financial boost from the city of Luverne in the form of tax increment financing.
The economic incentive tool hadn’t been used in a number of years, but the city found the Herman project to a perfect application of TIF, which promotes growth while removing blight.
The properties formerly occupying the 430 feet along the west side of the highway included the Cenex station, the car wash and the triangle-shaped building that once was a coffee shop. They were owned by Eastern Farmers Union.
History Center opening soon on Main Street
The other exciting story that goes hand-in-hand with the Herman Motors development is The History Center’s plans to open in the former Ford Dealership on East Main Street.
The Rock County Historical Society purchased the 100-year-old Ford building in May for $150,000. As soon as the auto business moved out, work began to transform the 11,000 square feet into display spaces, research quarters and rotating exhibits for the Historical Society.
The endearing side story to the History Center news is the stunning $150,000 in donations that poured in as a result of the Betty Mann 85th Birthday Fund Drive. Helping to make that total possible was an anonymous donor who matched the $75,000 in donations dollar for dollar.
Mann, Rock County’s “sweetheart of history,” cried tears of joy when asked about the birthday card proceeds. “I have been absolutely blown away,” she said. “I could never have expected this.”
The new building will address problems that Mann has struggled to address at the museum’s current location on North Freeman Avenue in the Masonic Lodge building. It will have adequate space, be handicap-accessible and will prominently display history in a central part of the community.
Tax-deductible donations (which continue to be matched) to the Rock County Historical Society Endowment Fund are still being accepted at PO Box 741, Luverne MN 56156.
Historic Palace Theatre turns 100 years old
In other history-related news, Luverne’s historic gem, the Palace Theatre, turned 100 years old in 2015. While the official anniversary was in September, Palace volunteers and local talented artists celebrated all year long.
For example, in April, the Blue Mound Opry returned to the Palace stage with a reunion of former Opry stars.
The official celebration on Sept. 20 featured a silent movie, “The General,” accompanied by Leona Hoek on the Palace’s 1925 Smith Geneva organ.
The Sept. 17 Star Herald preview coverage of the event featured quotes from the 1915 Rock County Herald, which called the Palace “one of the most splendid opera houses in the state.”
It also featured local volunteers and board members who worked tirelessly through the decades to keep the Palace doors open and the building preserved.
“We’ve managed to keep it going as a community jewel,” Heidi Sehr said in the Sept. 17 story. “The fact that there’s always something going on there is a testament to the Palace and the community that supports it.”
Conservation farming
While drought, flood, ice damage and other acts of nature dominated headlines in recent years, 2015 headlines told the story of recovery.
Widespread flooding of 2014 and some ill-timed downpours in the spring of 2015 did a number on Rock County’s rich, fertile fields.
Rushing water carried untold tons of topsoil through deep gullies that cut through fields and deposited it into ditches and along stream banks and riverbeds.
This damage coincided with Gov. Mark Dayton’s “buffer law” that mandates grassy strips along Minnesota’s vulnerable streams and waterways.
Rock County’s Land Management Office has for decades been urging farmers to implement conservation measures to protect topsoil and subsequently water supplies, but 2015 may go down in history as the turning point in the discussion.
With increased opportunities for cost-share dollars, fear of sweeping mandates and more evidence than ever of nature’s fury, Rock County’s farmers are getting on board to protect topsoil and vulnerable water supplies.
As Jason Fick put it in a Dec. 17 Star Herald story, ““As time goes on, people have to be willing to take the measures that need to be taken on their own property to alleviate the problems we’re seeing. Otherwise we’re going to be forced into programs that aren’t necessarily right for us.”
Bumper crop,
record land sale
With a 2015 bumper crop, and a new record land sale Rock County’s topsoil is more valuable than ever.
A headline in the Oct. 29 Star Herald reported Rock County fields were yielding upwards of 200 bushels per acre of corn and more than 60 bushels per acre of soybeans in some locations. An ideal growing season with timely rains and ideal harvest conditions supported the 2015 successful farming season.
Commodity prices, however, weren’t headline news. Regional cash grain prices are $3.40 to $3.50 per bushel for corn, and $8 to $8.30 per bushel for soybeans, as we end 2015. These prices are less than half what farmers enjoyed only a few years ago.
That didn’t stop one local landowner from paying $19,000 per acre for an 80-acre parcel of land near Steen on Dec. 17. That amount tops Rock County’s previous land sale of $16,200 per acre set in 2012.
Broadband coming soon
One of Rock County’s most exciting stories in 2015 hasn’t happened yet, at least in Rock County homes.
Alliance Communication Cooperative broke ground on Sept. 8 for its $14 million project to bring fiber-to-the home high-speed Internet to unserved and underserved rural residents in Rock County.
In the grant application to the state of Minnesota, 1,300 residences and businesses currently do not have access to high-speed Internet. For many, this meant an inability to conduct business, connect with health services and other tasks that require adequate Internet service.
Once connected by the end of 2016, these locations are promised Internet speeds equal to or greater than what’s currently offered in Luverne.
Lewis and Clark water reaches Rock County. Next up: Luverne
In another mark of progress, the long-awaited Lewis and Clark Regional Water System connected with Rock County Rural Water in the spring of 2015.
The water, which is piped from the Missouri River aquifer, officially arrived in Rock County with the completion of a meter building south of Hills.
Rural water, which is overseen by the Rock County Commission, has reserved 300,000 gallons a day from the Lewis and Clark system. Luverne, which was supposed to have been connected by the end of the year, has reserved 821,000 gallons per day. The members intend to use only part of their reserved allocation to supplement existing water supplies.
When complete, the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System will provide treated water from the Missouri River aquifer to more than 300,000 people in the tri-state area.
Lewis and Clark is currently delivering water to 11 of its 20 members. Luverne, which first joined the Lewis and Clark effort 25 years ago, will be the 13th member connected early in 2016.
City cleans up blight,
Sharkee’s is next
Another recurring theme in the Star Herald was blight removal in the city of Luverne.
•Reports in Feb. 12, March 12 and May 28 papers carried photos and information about the demolition of the buildings on the acreage next to Luverne City Park. In that case, the city granted a $5,000 demolition grant toward the project, and city crews helped clear away stored equipment and cut down overgrown trees and weedy shrubs.
•Over the past year the city had acquired three blighted properties — 509, 501, and 409 E. Barck — “to achieve the goals of eliminating blighted property and to allow for potential residential development in the future,” according to LEDA documents.
Once the city owned the four contiguous lots on the north side of Barck Avenue, 150 feet deep, they negotiated an agreement in May with Cleveringa Construction to build two triplexes and one twin home.
Construction began this summer, and at least one of them was expected to be complete by yearend.
•A blighted property — a century old house north of Culligan — on Highway 75 and Lincoln Street is in the process of being condemned and acquired through eminent domain.
•The city purchased the property between Remmedez and the liquor store this summer from Dale and Karen Bosch, Beaver Creek, for $70,000. It was demolished and the city is holding the lot for future development.
•Also demolished this summer was the pink house north of the Laundromat that the city had acquired in February.
•In July the dilapidated former turkey barns south of I-90 were demolished to make way for a new trailer business, Crossroads Trailer Sales and Service.
•In August the city approved a $3,000 residential demolition grant to John Oksness (on behalf of the Ed Wehler Estate) to demolish the substandard structures at 715 N. McKenzie. It was the third demolition grant awarded this year, bringing the total grant dollars to $13,000 so far for the program in 2015.
•The wheels are in motion for the city to address its biggest blight so far — the former Sharkee’s property on South Highway 75.
In September the City Council approved a resolution that authorizes “preparations for and commencement of eminent domain proceedings or other methods to acquire title to certain property in the city in order to mitigate blight and remove a public nuisance.”
Documented code violations on the building include a leaky roof, structural damage, inoperable fire alarm and sprinkler systems, sanitary sewer backups, HVAC and electrical systems in disrepair, extensive mold and more.
Health code violations, primarily the basement sewage backup, led to the business shutdown in April 2014. Then on May 26, 2014, the building suffered damage from a fire reportedly set by arsonists. The arson remains under investigation, but is essentially considered a cold case.
Meanwhile, the property has fallen into further disrepair, and property owner Dave Halverson has reportedly ignored notices of building code violations in April 2014 and April 2015.
As such, city charter and state law allows the city to acquire the property through condemnation proceedings. The outcome will be a story for 2016 or possibly 2017.
Luverne Loop Trail, Creamery Pond and possible canoe route development
On a more positive note, 2015 has been the year of development for recreational opportunities in Luverne.
•The city approved the master plan for the Luverne Loop Trail in December, following a year’s worth of planning for the community hiking and biking trail.
In July the city purchased 6.59 acres from Burdell and Julia Kruse adjacent to Hawkinson Park for $80,000 and in October eight acres from Loren Forrest for $80,000, completing the western connection of the bike path.
In October the City Council accepted the low bid of $440,000 from Henning Construction for Phase 1 of the Loop. Work will begin next spring on that portion, which starts at the Veterans Home Pond and loops around the western edge of the city to Dodge Street.
The 7.1-mile Luverne Loop is estimated to cost $2 million once complete and will be developed over a five-year time period.
•In developing a future route for the Luverne Loop, city planners have focused attention on the Creamery Pond, which private property owners have already developed into a recreational community beach, swimming and fishing area.
The pond is named for its proximity to what used to be the Luverne Cooperative Creamery (now Great Plains Processing).
It’s owned by the city, but Mike and Traci Davis own the adjacent property and have been working with the city in the past year to clean up the shoreline and improve the beach.
A July 4 Floatie Parade on the Pond drew an estimated 500 people to the local beach.
•Davis is also on the local committee exploring a canoe and kayaking trail on the Rock River, with public access points along the way.
In July he and 11 people representing the city, Luverne Area Chamber, Rock County and the state of Minnesota boarded their watercraft about five miles upriver from Luverne.
On their trip down the river, the group looked for suitable places to enter and exit the river as part of their quest to develop a public water trail.
The next step will be to map the route on paper and seek funds (possibly through the DNR) to develop public parking areas and boat landings.
District hires new superintendent
A big story in 2015 was the Luverne School District’s hiring of Craig Oftedahl as its new superintendent.
Oftedahl, former Warroad superintendent, agreed on March 13 to accept Luverne’s offer, and on April 2 he signed a two-year contract from July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2017. His first-year salary is $120,000 and the second year $124,500.
Oftedahl replaces Gary Fisher, who was Luverne’s superintendent for 10 years and high school principal for 14 years before that.
Fisher told Oftedahl in his July 2 Star Herald retirement story, “In my opinion, you are coming into one of the best school districts in the state of Minnesota,” Fisher said.
“You’ve got a great team of teachers. You’ve got great kids. You’ve got a great community … and people who believe in education. You’re not going to get anything better than that.”
Local schools return to
post-Labor Day start
After trying it out for several years, many area school districts, including Luverne and Hills-Beaver Creek, decided to abandoned the Flexible Learning Year schedule.
In a Nov. 19 split vote, the Luverne School Board decided to no longer start classes in mid August and end in mid May. The 2016-17 school year will begin Sept. 6 and end Memorial Day.
Luverne now is the 18th school to drop from the 22-member FLY consortium formed six years ago.
Earlier this year, Hills-Beaver Creek, Adrian and Edgerton dropped out of the consortium.
In business news in 2015, the Star Herald covered the following developments …
In addition to the already mentioned Herman Motors and Crossroads Trailers …
•Sterling’s celebrates a ribbon-cutting event in January.
•Kozlowski moves into its new location on South Highway 75 in January.
•The Hardwick grocery store, Country Market, closes in March.
•Rock County Opportunities celebrates its expansion project in March.
•Salon 75 expands and renovates its location in April.
•Rock Veterinary Clinic buys Minn-I-Kota Veterinary Clinic in June.
•Dave Knips opens Medi Spa in the spring and was featured in the June 18 Star Herald.
•Green Lantern new business owner Jens Jensen debuts during Hardwick Days in June.
•Mike and Wanda Jarchow sell Big Top Tent Rental to Jordan and Stacey Smidt in July.
•ATLAS opens its charity thrift store, Redeemed Remnants, in the former Computer Tutors building in July.
•Sears closes in August.
•Scott Loosbrock opens Loosbrock Electrical Construction LLC and was featured in the Aug. 13 Star Herald.
•Christensen Farms faces animal cruelty allegations in August. The County Attorney later decides not to charge.
•Gevo and Butamax end their patent dispute in August, and in October, the Luverne plant announces plans to ramp up isobutanol output.
•Southwestern Mental Health Center moves into its new location in the former Lewis Drug building off East Main Street in October.
•Skattum Confinement Systems and Superior Buildings are sold to Son-D-Farms in October.
•Schwartz Farms builds a new 70-by-125-foot facility north of Papik Motors for office space and warehouse storage, prompting the extension of Koehn Avenue and further development in that neighborhood. The facility was complete in November.
•Luverne Body Shop announces in November that it plans to expand and relocate.
•Mike and Wanda Jarchow announce in November their plans to open an event center in the former Family Dollar building.
•Luverne Street Music presents a proposal in November to move operations to the Carnegie Cultural Center.
•Local investors buy back Minwind assets in bankruptcy sale. Terms of the court agreement closed Nov. 12.
•The Luverne Area Community Foundation celebrates its new location in the Palace corner in December.